3 Keys to Landing that Dream Internship (or Job) and Making the Most of it:

(1) Follow Your Heart
Find a company that is doing something you are passionate about. You are only going to love doing something you really care about, and it’s not worth doing something you don’t love.

(2) Hustle Your Ass Off
Once you find the company of your dreams, reach out to their leaders and be impressive. Don’t just send a resume, but prove you can help. Resumes these days mean next to nothing. You’re not going to get your dream job or internship by just firing off your resume and hoping. Learn about the company you’re interested in, make suggestions, be helpful, impress them, and be importantly be persistent. One email isn’t going to do it. Be aggressive and creative.

If you want to be a designer for a company, show them what you’d change and actually do it,impress them and they will want you. I know right now we are looking for a designer (hint hint) and if you were to send us a beautiful redesign of our splash-page,tell us why you think it would convert better and what you’d do to measure it I’d be damn tempted to hire you on the spot.

If you want a internship or job with a startup you have a much better shot by sending an email of feedback and linking to your profile on Twitter or Quora than you do by sending a resume. On that note, be thoughtful in the email you send. If you want to work at StarStreet tell me why. I want to hear that it gets you juiced up, and you should be sure to show me why we’d be crazy not to hire you.

(3) Be Open and Honest
Make sure the company/leaders you are working for know exactly what you want to get out of it. If they don’t know they can’t help you. I would love to have someone tell me “I want to be a founder, and I’d like to intern for 6 months to learn how to do it . (Oh and PS, I’m sure I can help you, here’s what I’d do for you…)'

Once you land that dream gig, make sure you are always communicating what’s on your mind. To often it’s easy to think people can read your mind. They can’t, so if something isn’t working be sure to get it out there as early as possible, no good can come from waiting.

Bottom line: Every company is always looking for all-star people. If you can prove to a company that you can help them they will hire you, simple as that. Now just prove it.